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Minority shareholder oppression

Squeezed out of the company you own part of.

Oppression claims under s.191 of the Israeli Companies Law: Aun & Co. acts for minority shareholders facing exclusion, dilution and starved distributions.

Oppression is the legal name for a familiar pattern: the majority runs the company as if the minority were not there — no dividends, no information, salaries and benefits flowing only one way, dilutive allotments timed against you. Section 191 of the Companies Law lets the court intervene where the company's affairs are conducted in a manner unfairly prejudicial to some shareholders, and its remedial reach is wide. The firm builds these cases on the pattern, proven through the company's own records.

The work spans
  • Section 191 oppression petitions and the interim relief around them
  • Challenges to dilutive share allotments and related-party transactions
  • Claims over starved dividends against one-sided compensation
  • Enforcement of information and inspection rights as a pressure front
  • Court-supervised buy-out and valuation proceedings
  • A share allotment was announced at a price and timing designed to shrink your stake.
  • The company is profitable, distributions are zero, and the majority's salaries keep rising.
  • Financial statements reach you late, redacted, or only after threats of court action.
  • Contracts flow to companies owned by the controller's relatives at untested prices.

Oppression is proved as an accumulation, so the firm builds a conduct ledger: every distribution decision, every related-party payment, every information request refused, each dated and sourced to a document. The petition then presents a pattern the court can see at a glance. Interim relief is weighed at the outset — freezing a dilution before it lands is often worth more than years of unwinding it after.

04 · What you get

A conduct ledger

Every prejudicial act dated, sourced and cumulated — the evidentiary form oppression must take to persuade a court.

Dilution stopped in time

Interim relief assessed immediately, because an allotment blocked today beats a valuation fight over it in three years.

Exit at a real value

The strategy aims at s.191's practical endpoint: a buy-out priced by the court, not by the majority's opening offer.

The firm has acted where a minority holder in a family company was removed from the board, cut off from financials, and then offered a buy-out at a fraction of book value. The conduct ledger framed a s.191 petition; the dispute moved to a supervised valuation.

Described in abbreviated, anonymised form to preserve client confidentiality.

What counts as minority oppression under Israeli law?

Conduct of the company's affairs that unfairly prejudices some shareholders — typically a pattern: starved dividends against one-sided salaries, blocked information, dilutive allotments, related-party deals. Single incidents rarely suffice; accumulation does.

What remedies can the court give in an oppression case?

Section 191 gives the court broad power to remove the prejudice — most commonly an order that the majority purchase the minority's shares at a court-set valuation, but also injunctions, reversal of resolutions and governance orders.

How long do I have to act against a dilutive allotment?

Move immediately. Once new shares are issued and third-party rights attach, unwinding becomes far harder and the fight shifts to valuation. Interim relief before the allotment closes is the strongest position available.

Is litigation the only option?

No. Most oppression claims settle on a number; a credible petition and provisional relief are usually means to a negotiated exit, not to a trial.

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